Ban-hammer hits Aetherworks Marvel in Standard

WOTC / James Paick

Wizards of the Coast bans yet another card in Magic: The Gathering's Standard format, giving the format now five banned cards since the start of the year.

The victim this time is the popular card Aetherworks Marvel from Kaladesh. While WotC admits that the card itself isn't exactly broken on its own, decks built around it were simply too commonplace and dominate since April's banning of Felidar Guardian. For example, nearly half of the top 32 at the recently-held Grand Prix Amsterdam were such decks. Such decks also had a high enough likelihood for unbeatable draws with a turn-four Ulamog being a real concern. Furthermore, Standard players had reported to WotC that the card was neither healthy nor fun for for the format.

"The best games of Magic are ones that involve counterplay on both sides. For those reasons, we believe Aetherworks Marvel needed to go, even though it is not unbeatable," says Magic R&D Director Aaron Forsythe.

Aetherworks Marvel joins Smuggler's Copter, Reflector's Mage, Felidar Guardian, and Emrakul, The Promised End as the current banned cards for Standard.

Magic: The Gathering's next banned/restricted list announcement (if any) will be on August 28.